Contents

Function

Background

The Elemental Grid is shown in the bottom-left corner of the screen, to the left of the "Unison Gauge" and the party character portraits. It consists of a single large circle that displays the "major" field element, and five smaller circles that show the "minor" elements that are currently in play. This information displays the current elemental influences on the battle field, from casting spells and using most element-based artes, activated by both enemies and allies. At the start of battle, the major field element is usually influenced by the elemental alignment of the current dungeon. Quests and locations that do not have any associated element provide a randomly chosen major field element. The minor elements are always chosen randomly at the start of battle, though the current major field element has a higher chance to appear as additional minor element symbols.

When using an arte or spell that is associated with any element, the currently highlighted minor element symbol is replaced with the new element. High-tier spells replace two minor element symbols at once. Once three of the same minor elements are displayed on the Elemental Grid, those element symbols are emptied, and the major field element is changed to reflect the new elemental majority. If the three minor elements already match the major field element, no element symbols are deleted, and no change is made to the Elemental Grid itself. All allies or enemies that share an element with the major element symbol will gain a passive regenerative effect for their HP.

Unison Attacks

To perform a Unison Attack with monster allies, at least one minor element symbol must match the element that the monster is associated with. The elemental Movement is chosen based on their elemental alignment. If multiple creatures are in the active battle party, the monster that matches the element that has the most influence on the Elemental Grid determines the spell that is used for the Unison Attack. If other monster ally elements are represented on the Elemental Grid, those creatures will also participate in the Unison Attack, theoretically adding their A. ATK power to the original monster's spell, though the actual damage increase has not been confirmed. If all monster allies have equal standing on the Elemental Grid, the selected spell element is chosen at random among the available monsters.

The selected Movement rank is based on the current configuration of the major and minor element symbols on the Elemental Grid. The activated Unison Attack will always choose the highest possible Movement for any given element, if a monster is available in the active battle party to perform the correct spell. These configurations are as follows:

As for the playable characters, their preset attack pattern is activated also if at least one minor element symbol matches the element that the character is associated with. Even if multiple characters are in the active battle party, only one other character will participate in the Unison Attack. If no character can participate in the Unison Attack due to the absence of their element on the Elemental Grid, the controlled character will still be able to activate his or her own attack. Ars Nova will override all other attacks if all conditions are met. Emil Castagnier's Devil's Maw and Marta Lualdi's Divine Saber will override all other characters' attacks if the conditions of either attack is met, while that character is in the active party but not controlled by the player. Once a Unison Attack is activated, all minor element symbols are cleared, leaving only the major field element on the Elemental Grid.

Catching Monsters

In order to catch a monster of any element, the Elemental Grid must have at least four minor element symbols that match the current major field element. The element itself does not matter. If a monster is killed while this elemental configuration is in place, the creature will be "Spellbound", meaning the creature has a chance to join the party after the battle ends. If multiple enemies are Spellbound during a single battle, only one creature is randomly selected to provide the chance to join the party. To select a specific monster from an enemy group to join the party, after creating four of the same minor element symbols on the Elemental Grid, that creature should be defeated with a Unison Attack. Because this Unison Attack will completely wipe the current minor element symbols from the Elemental Grid, all other remaining enemies will not be Spellbound, ensuring that the only Spellbound creature will be given the chance to be captured.